[Charles]

That’s a very decent list for a British paratrooper Market Garden list. You’ll find it a bit challenging to play someone that has armor as you’ll have to get pretty close to knock them out with a piat or flamethrower, but that’s what makes it fun.

[Charles]

I missed these rules when Warlord first put them out. After reading them, they seem worth a try. I agree that if the officer can snap to all figures within 12″ then there’s no more random movement. Also, as each figure fights separately, it seems like cover would be harder to figure out if you’re partially in it.

[Charles]

I thought vehicles got a half advance rate reverse move, and recce vehicles got a full advance rate reverse move, and dual direction recce vehicles got a full run rate reverse move?

As for a jeep with an MMG or HMG, that’s a tough call. You can now get it as a recce jeep but only with the MMG, but the HMG is enough to make 7+ vehicles think twice. It’s still a softskin vehicle, so as long as I keep it way in the back and pop out towards the end of a turn, it does okay. If I go on the offensive with it, I’ll probably lose it pretty quickly.

[Charles]

Yes, when they work they’re great. However, if someone has even a little bit of flak or pintle mount mg fire, they have a pretty good chance of chasing the plane off. For more predictable damage, I think the artillery FO is better. It almost never hits its own side, and even if it doesn’t score a hit, it still usually leaves enough pins behind to slow the other side down.

[Charles]

I use one sometimes because it’s fun, not because it’s always effective. Worst case scenario I’ve seen was a three round tournament where a player brought a US air observer. He got two strikes to arrive in each game. For five of the six strikes, he rolled a one resulting in him loosing a lot of his own troops. On multiple occasions, I’ve used one and could never get the first strike to arrive, much less the second one.

[Charles]

Thanks for all the input. I’ll be refereeing a tournament in a few months and wanted to make sure I call this correctly. I have always read it and interpreted it the was Alessio put it, so I feel better seeing that. I had a more argumentative player argue the opposite recently in a friendly game. Sometimes Bolt Action errs on the side of simplicity over what could realistically happen on a battlefield. I’m good with that as it keeps the game moving, but I could see his point.Same logic could be applied to a sniper that has an enemy squad figure within 12″ but wants to shoot at the squad member outside of 12″. Also, I still see a hole in the rules here when the closest visible model is only visible to the spotter and is more than 12″ from the mortar while some of the unit is within. Either way, these tend to be infrequent situations as having an infantry squad within 12″ usually isn’t good for the mortar or sniper. I think I’ll rule that if the enemy is only visible to the spotter, you must measure from the mortar to the figure closest to the mortar that the spotter can see as this seems to conform with the measure to the closest visible enemy rule. Let me know if that doesn’t sound right.

[Charles]

Thanks for the responses. You found what I was looking for under shooting on page 53. “Measure the distance between each firing model and the closest visible enemy model in the target unit.” means if part of the target unit is within the minimum distance, then the shot misses. At least I can point to a rule to make the argument.

However, I can still see someone arguing under this rule that if they are using a spotter to direct the mortar shot, and the mortar team itself can’t see the target, and the closest enemy model visible to the spotter is outside of the minimum distance, they get to shoot even if the closest model of the target is within the minimum distance.

[Charles]

Steve. I can see both sides of this argument, but it’d be nice if there was something that clarified it somewhere. I get your point, but that would mean the building (or unit) would have to be completely within the minimum distance before the rule applied. It seems like the rules would have said “completely” within the minimum distance, not just within. A targeted building that is 30cm long, of which just 1cm is within minimum range is still a target that is within the minimum range even if some of it is outside of minimum range. Same for a vehicle, or unit. If the target is a spot on the ground, I could see that you can target something partially within the minimum distance, but that seems like a pretty big omission from the rules as far as HE shooting. The rule’s use of the word target instead of unit is confusing too as I could see interpreting the target of an indirect weapon like an off board artillery strike that targets a spot on the ground, not a unit or building. I’ll reread the FAQ’s, but I’m hoping someone knows a page in the rules that clarifies this.

[Charles]

Thanks. That’s what I was looking for. That clears it up.

[Charles]

As a follow up question to that, we have always played that when the rules call for a damage roll to be added to penetration, a 1 misses. Examples would be when +3 HE or +3 flamethrower hits a an inexperienced squad, it still misses on ones to damage. Otherwise, the rule would read you automatically kill all within the template or all hit by the flamethrower.with no additional roll needed. Even when a flamethrower hits a regular infantry squad needing 4’s, we play it misses on 1’s to damage. Are we playing this correctly?

[Charles]

Thanks!

[Charles]

Thanks!

[Charles]

I keep trying to use a motorcycle squad too because the models are so cool. However, the rule could use a little more work to make it more playable. How do you interpret the part of the motorcycle rule where it says they can dismount as part of an advance move? Does that mean they can move 12″ at advance rate and then dismount another 6″ from the motorcycles like you do from a transport, or can they dismount as long as their entire move that turn is no more than 12″, or are they limited to a 6″ move because they have dismounted? Also, if they can dismount as part of an advance move, does that mean they can move somewhere between 6″ and 18″ depending on your interpretation of the rule and fire?

 

[Charles]

Yes, at least that’s the way I read it and how we play it locally. Page 57 says shooters, not figures. The figures behind the building can’t shoot and aren’t shooters because they don’t have line of sight. Cover is worked out as to how it affects the eligible shooters and assuming the enemy squad is not in any cover. When the squad in the open shoots back, the target squad is more than 50% behind a building and gets cover.

[Charles]

Thanks. That’s what I was looking for.

[Author]

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